A level History, DD struggling, advice please?

[shadypines]

Hi, I'm not sure if dd 17yrs is expecting too much of herself but she is currently awaiting her mock result for Modern History and feels like she did badly and is struggling on the whole.

One of the main things she finds is that she just doesn't have enough time to write everything down and it's not that she doesn't always know the stuff, she revises well from what I can see. She is also struggling with the fact that the teacher makes them rewrite all the pages of the textbook, she doesn't like to revise this way but it seems it is this teacher's method.

Can anyone give any advice please? Is there a secret to approaching history questions? What are the examiners looking for? Also, should she be looking at other sources of knowledge other than the textbook? What can be done to make some of the topics less boring ,( eg she hates learning about the sex, drugs, rock and roll of the 60's!) if anything?

She got grade 7 history at GCSE and grade 7's in English lang and lit (mainly 7 to 9 in other subjects) so her language skills and essay writing ability is good. Any help is appreciated!

How does your dd prefer to revise? Copying out text is dull but the act of doing it helps cement it in the mind. I think it's quite lazy of the teacher, essay questions as homework would be more effective.

Plus revising for pop quizzes.

I can't speak for A Level but I discovered a love of revising and exams during my degree (history as a mature student so not that long ago).

These work for me: -

Doing something with the information every time that you revise. So with past exam questions to hand:

• take notes by hand in class/from the book
• 2nd session: type up those notes (still revision and you have done something active with them)
• Next time, read through and make brainstorm/mindmap with key ideas under different headings.
• With notes/mindmap time yourself to answer a past question. Inc. planning time.
• Using notes and mindmap reduce notes to record cards. One angle per card.
• Use cards to time a question.
• Ask someone to read the title of the card and then respond with information.

E.g. if the question is 'who was responsible for the origins of the First World War' you end up with

GERMANY

• Ambition; European empires (e.g. Germany lacked due to new nationhood)
• Aggression; blank cheque to Austria - results in ....

UK

• Appeasement; flawed, a more robust approach etc etc

Then you essentially have all of your arguments. So reason, which caused and resulted in all supported by evidence. It's useful to have an opinion too - i.e. UK was responsible because of XYZ, however historians have argued that Germany was more culpable. Disagree because appeasement....... etc blah blah

This most likely needs tweaking for A level as I am not familiar with exactly what would be required.

Sometimes less is more. A focussed, well argued essay with key words can achieve better marks than a lot of superfluous detail. She needs to familiarise herself with mark schemes as she does practice papers to make what she can write really count.

My DH teaches A-Level History and finds that even the brightest students waffle and he cannot gives marks to half of what is written. It is a completely different mindset to GCSE and she needs to focus on the question with every paragraph making one point and linking back to the exact question.

A-Level is more about analysis than about remembering every fact / figure so if its about 19th century Britain then speak about social economic links rather than the fact that the Spinning Jenny was invented 1770 (just a random example). Although combine this with the techniques listed above then she should do well.

Sympathies - DD got a 9 at GCSE and is also struggling with the A-level, so your child is not alone. She has been told (as Moonlight and LIZS said above) that she needs to focus her answers on the question and ensure she's producing a coherent argument rather than just getting the facts down.

It’s a long time since I did a level history but I agree with the one point per para linking to the question. Also do as many past papers as possible and then learn the essays or at least the essay plans. Start each question by doing a quick list of what you’re going to cover-a mini essay plan.

You might also want to consider whether she might be a candidate for extra time in exams. If she's someone who tends to take longer to read, process info, write than her peers, then she could be assessed for an exam access arrangement.
If you think this might be the case, ask school/college about assessment.

Advise her to talk to her tutor.

A great way to revise is to learn how to use mind maps. look at some of the early Tony Buzan books (the later ones make the process very complicated - the earlier ones explain the method very simply). I have used them throughout my several degrees. Always loved using them both for revision and for writing under exam conditions.

It's not about writing down everything she knows. As pp says, less is more, it's about answering the question. I say this to students all the time: you want to write down everything you know about a subject but examiners are not looking for that and they will happily draw lines through things that are "not relevant" to the question. My advice is:

Read the essay question carefully to make sure you are answering it properly. It might sound a bit obvious but it's where many history students lose marks. What is the main topic and what is the key word? eg. how successful was something - success is a varied measure and not a straight answer so it is important to show you understand the nuances of history.

Do a proper plan.

Use a thesis statement in the intro which clearly delivers the opinion that will be argued towards. Don't make it too long (no more than a third of a page).

Use PEA or PEEL paragraphs.

Argue with evidence for every point - don't narrate

Quote or refer to sources - this is where wider reading comes in (and yes, it is useful) but make sure it is used to back up your argument with facts and examples, not just "well if famous historian said it, it must be true".

Conclusion - sum up what you've said, drawing together all the points and making it clear what POV is. Refer to key words of question. And, don't make any new points (this is why planning is so important).

Also in extract questions it is important to recognise the context , the source/author and mention any bias that may influence the account, rather than take it as absolute.

There is a feedback technique called text blackout which I love for wordy girls. They don't like it at first!

Photocopy an essay. Get a black Sharpie. OBLITERATE anything that is extraneous. Sometimes sentences word order needs resorting, too. I teach high literacy subjects and this really makes them focus on economy of style.

What exactly is she struggling with?
Remembering everything she needs to?
Writing it down fast enough?
Structuring the essay?

My lightbulb moment came after 2 years of my history teacher saying youve got to discuss the question going to a sociology lecture and the chief examiner saying question the question. Suddenly the penny dropped.

Wow, thank you for all the advice and feedback everyone, that's great! I will pass this onto DD.

lunicorn that is certainly worth considering. From what she says she struggles with getting her ideas together and then writing it all down. It does seem unfair to have so little time when candidates actually know their stuff.

Bookmarking for reference.

the chief examiner saying question the question.

Yes to this. I teach A Level English and one of the key techniques I teach students is to "interrogate the question" as part of the planning. So if the question states "In Gothic Literature all women are presented as victims. To what extent do you agree?", I would get them to ask first of all - "what do we mean by the word 'victim'? What connotations does that have?" and so on.